Operation WIFE
by The Ghost Witch
Summary: To get back the Book of KND from the DCFDTL, Rachel accepts their deal: to find a woman for Father, and enlists Sector W's help. Meanwhile she meets a strange boy who not only tells her there are grades upper than hers, but also they're not what they seem
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own Kids Next Door. I just own an English vocabulary, this story and a few OCs of mine. I'm Italian, so forgive me if I make grammar mistakes and please tell me because it's important to my study of English. This is also my first story; actually the second, three years ago I wrote a FullMetal Alchemist fic in an Italian fanfiction site, but it was a complete fiasco and nobody liked it.

So read and leave a review if you want. Again, forgive my grammar mistakes.

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_ In all of mankind's history, there has never been more damage done than by people who "thought they were doing the right thing."_

_** -Charles M. Schultz-** _

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**_"Wake up, Sector Z. Wake up"_**

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A teenager was running into the night. He was tall and skinny, of fifteen, he wore a green sweater and faded jeans. His round face was furrowed by pimples and a pair of glasses was placed in front of his gray eyes, which betrayed the boy's feelings at that moment: of indescribable terror.

Keeping running, he picked up a cellphone from his pocket and dialed a number, trying to call the TND Base. It was useless: the non-availability sound came to his ears like a smack in the face. They had cut off his phone, no doubt about it.

While he turned to the direction that headed to the main road, he stumbled on his gym shoes' unlaced shoelaces and fell to the ground. The following pain informed him he had just grazed his knee. Groaning, he picked himself up and continued his running, without looking over his shoulder. He couldn't stop, if he had done it, they would have reached him and that would have been the end of him. And he had to warn them, warn the TND, warn Numbuh Infinity and the KND... He had to warn everybody, before it was too late.

His thoughts traveled to the book he stole four hours ago. It had been simple, after all. The kids of that Sector were having some mission abroad; it meant they weren't there, and thanks to his knowledge of hacking he evaded the alarm and the security cameras of their treehouse, and managed to take the requested document.

But... some things happened. _A lot_ of bad things happened. So he hid it. In a safe place, he believed, although he wasn't so sure that those other kids would have kept it safe. He knew it was a matter of time before they decided to take advantage of the sudden situation. But it was better than nothing.

With growing panic he got to the flyover that connected the town center with the outskirts; he was out of breath, his heart was pounding against his chest and his spleen and knee were hurting. He was too tired, he needed a rest... no, no, NO! He was near... just another hundred of metres and he would have been safe...

The teen froze. On the other side of the flyover, an hooded figure was proceeding camly towards him, with slow steps, as if he wasn't in a hurry.

The boy recovered from the early shock, made two steps back and turned around to escape, but then with horror saw another hooded figure coming, a little taller than the first one and feminine in her movements. The two were walking up in a promising way, aware that the boy could never be able to shake them off.

He, surrounded by both sides, searched desperately for a way out, but when he looked up at his left, he saw another hooded person, slightly bent, this time smaller than the others; he was clinging to the fenced barriers, making clear he had climbed from down there.

Terrified, and with no chance of running away, the fifteen-year-old found himself drawing back while the three people were leaning closer. When his back hit the iron guard-rails, his chasers were less than half of a metre from him, forming a semicircle around the teenager.

"My goodness, son" said the first figure in a disappointing tone. It seemed he was a man. "You've always been so supportive. Why did you decide to ruin everything?"

The boy gulped. He opened the mouth to speak, but no sound came out: fear was inevitably dimming his mind.

"Honestly, Mr. Cleary," This time was the woman who took the word. "He was so good at executing orders, at getting focused just to the various operations without making questions, without caring for who you were really working or worrying about consequences. And all of a sudden, you choose to take interest in certain business that doesn't concern you at all." She sighed "Such a shame, in my opinion".

Cleary was obviously upset and was breathing heavily. He had a lump in his throat.

"But we decided to forgive you" reassured the man, "We understand you could feel... quite shocked now by what you've just discovered. You can't fully accept the situation yet, of course, but it's not what you believe". He made a few steps ahead, and stood in front of the boy, enough close to letting him see his face.

"I'd lie if I'd tell you that our ambitious project won't have consequences somewhat unwelcome under many points of view, but we assure you that's for the welfare of the whole cosmos" He paused "Think it over: this plan is the answer. The answer to all our problems. Every ill of the universe will disappear, because we will develop more decisive and stronger personalities. We'll find cures, build new machines and discover new important things that will contribute to our evolution. Just think about it for a second: you'll realize that's true"

Strangely, the man's voice became sweeter while he was talking. Sweet and reassuring... calm...

Without knowing why, he felt relaxed now. It was like a wave of bliss had entered into his body.

Well, if he thought carefully about it...

Maybe this project wasn't so bad after all...

No. NO. No, it wasn't. It couldn't be. Their project wasn't for superior welfare. It could have been that way if it didn't involve...

"Everything will get better." The man kept talking "You saw it. You read our plan. You know we're right. This will change radically our modus vivendi in better. You know it's the right thing to do"

His words began running through his head, and he felt sleepy. Sleepy and... happy. Yeah, it was the right to do... the most logical thing to do...

But a little part of his mind was telling him that they were telling the truth indeed, but the cost was high... too high.

The cost was the freedom of kids and teens.

Those people had to be stopped.

"No... no... it doesn't..." The boy muttered, almost dazed by the sound of the man's voice.

"Come on, Mr Albert Cleary. It's true. The youngsters will grow up in a new completely different world, full of wealth and wonders; sure, they will suffer at first, but then they'll just get used to it and in the end they will fully accept our universal society, realizing that their condition will bring prosperity for everybody and for themselves in particular. Oh, come on, you saw the project. If you take a good look at it, they will be happy, in a way. Because we'll protect them. Protect them to make our descendants stronger. What do you think about it now?" His interlocutor said.

His voice was becoming more and bewitching second by second.

In all his life, Cleary had never listened such a beautiful sound.

He believed that if Reason had a voice, it would have been the one he was listening to now.

So calm. So sweet.

So right.

The boy gave in to it.

The man wasn't lying. Everything was having sense now. It was evident: it was for the welfare of everybody...

...in the universe.

The part of his mind that was screaming their project was evil madness was relentlessly fading.

The boy found himself nodding. "I... I understand..." he whispered weakly.

"Brilliant!" the man replied "We're glad you did. However, you just made an huge mistake. You hide the book we asked you to steal. It's the Book of KND and is really, really important to our project. It contains valuable information that may be able to help us. Can you tell us where it is now? If you do, we promise you we'll forgive you and we'll let you go." A bright smile appearead in his facial features.

Cleary smiled blankly, while his conversation partner's musical words were giving him a sensation of utter bliss. The teen was too carried away by their armony to notice there was something wrong and innatural about his voice...

But a tiny side of his mind kept holding on...

The man smiled even more "We swear."

And that line made the boy's mental guard drop. The musical sound descended on his soul with the same gentleness a leaf descended on the ground cradled by a soft breeze during an afternoon of early autumn. The voice wrapped him up like a warm woollen scarf. Cleary felt protected by that promise. The man will have kept it, now he was sure. Why he hadn't figured it out before?

The answer came out from his lips without even noticing "I gave it to the the Delightful Children From Down the Lane. The presumed children of Father".

The man seemed slightly surprised by this. "Father?... Father... where have I heard this name?... Oh, the Fatherhood, yeah... Wait, you mean Benedict Uno, Monty's brother!" he suddenly laughed, finally realizing.

The woman joined him, while their other companion let out puffs, obviously trying to control an hysterical laugh. "There ain't no problem, then! We can take some time! That idiot'll use it just for blackmail those brats!" he said amused. His voice, to the contrary of his teammate, was... shrill. " We can leave, anticipate Operation Xavier, and order Huijy to watch them, in case something happens when we're not here. And once we're done, we come back and take the book!" he suggested.

"Yes, you're right, my friend." The man approved "I've just feared the boy had handed the book over to some important teenager or kid. We'll take it back after we solve that annoying problem. Then we will pay Benedict a visit. I haven't met him in... how long? Ten years? Well, we'll see. At least the documents are in good hands."

"In stupid hands, you mean." Another chuckle left his companion's lips after his statement.

"So... can you let me go now?"

The hooded persons turned turned to see the teen. After a brief silence, the man smiled to him once again. "Sure". Then he addressed to the smallest one of his mates. "Ka'led, let him go". His companion nodded.

The boy's relief was too great to let him realize one strange thing: nobody of them had immobilized him, they didn't do that at all, they had just surrounded him...

Unfortunately, the real mening of the phrase came up to him too late.

The hand of the smallest figure moved so quickly that it didn't even seem it had moved. It was just there, in Cleary's throat.

The teen tried to scream, but his jailor's grasp was so tight that was almost choking him.

At this point, he was lifted from the pavement and his back hitted the guard-rails, and then felt it rushing up painfully against the iron barrier. And that was when he noticed two disturbing characteritics about his attacker.

The first one, was the hand holding his throat.

It was scaled.

And it had claws.

The second one, his skin.

Green skin.

The boy came back to reality when the hand released the hold to caught the nape of his neck, forcing him to look down.

Cleary faced the void. Almost twenty metres separated him from the ground.

If he fell, he would be dead.

"You told me you would have let me go!" he cried desperately.

"But we're letting you go. We're men of word. The problem is, you should have understand the real meaning by your own, given the circumstances" said the first man.

"That's it, Mr. Cleary" intervened the woman "Oh, now we're on this subject, the reason of our project is not a lie. We're actually doing it for the welfare of the whole cosmos. Finished, there will be the dawn of a New Era."

"Exactly. But for this to take place, every young creature having superior intelligence has to sacrifice their childhood and teenage years. That's normal" This time the man who talked "Every time an Empire is born, the weakest people must be used and then thrown away, so it could extend himself into becoming more and more boundless and civilized, and helping human progress... generally speaking" He quickly corrected himself when the other two gave him a withering look. Then he took a crumpled sheet of paper from his pocket and gave it to the creature holding the boy, who caught it and put it inside one of the pockets of his captive's jeans.

"What's that?" The teen asked worried.

"Your farewell letter." Answered the man simply.

The boy paled and with that little bit of courage he still possessed he said: "The TND will never buy something like this!"

"Really? I don't think so." Replied the man "Let's take a look at your life, shall we? Your father left your family two years ago, and he doesn't want to have anything to do with you. For him you don't exists. And your mother is a depressed workaholic who would rather spend her free time with the wrong men than with her son. Friends? No. You're an unsocial who just studies, plays at videogames and collect stamps; you hate parties and you can't talk to people: in fact, you can't keep a conversation up with a person of the same age as you for more than five minutes. At school they make fun of you and they call you 'Mole Cleary', in addition, everyday you are beaten up by a group of bullies without having somebody who comes to help you. And you don't have a girlfriend neither. Obviously. Let's face it, Mr. Cleary. You are completely alone in the world." He chuckled evily "Aren't these good reasons for a teenager to commit suicide? Of course they are, and you know it well."

Cleary was at the edge of tears. He felt himself pushed even more beyond the barriers.

"You won't get away with this so easily!" he cried again "No! The upper grades will find out what you're doing and they'll stop you!"

There were other laughs coming from the three hooded people. Then, the one holding the boy said: "I tell you a secret, kiddo" he brought his mouth near to the boy's ear and whispered:

_"We are the real upper grades."_

And he let him go.

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**"_Limit... Are you alright? Are you ill? What's... What's wrong?_"**

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**" I feel... something... something terrible is happening..."**

**"...oh, having another 'there's-a-disturbance-in-the-force' moment of yours, right?" **

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**OPERATION- W.I.F.E.**

**W**oman

**I**nflames

**F**ather's

**E**motions

**Beginning Transmission... Please Standby...****

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Auhor's note: I used the dictionary for each. freaking. word. So stressful. Can't use online translators, they're horrible.

Ugh. Ew. My God, I suck at descriptions. Even in Italian. However, first of all, thanks to reading this chapter. Second, this story will talk about Delightful Children's future. You see, in my fic they survived in INTERVIEWS, but how? Well, keep read to know. I wrote this because that episode didn't give justice to Rachel. And to Sector Z. I mean, am I the only one who feels sorry for these kids? They didn't ask to be delightfulized! They deserved to come back to their original personalities and lives, not to be killed off! They needed an happy ending! So, I decided to give them a possibility, at least in the world of fandom. And the same thing for Rachel. Especially Rachel.

The pairings are Sonya/Lee (but just slighty) and MAJOR 1/362 and Father/mysterious character (beware, is not an OC. Yes, I chose to pair him up with an actual character of the show ;D). As a fair warning, Nigel won't appear here, it will be about Rachel thinking about him and her feelings towards him, and her situation will reflect somehow Father's one... sorry, can't tell why yet.

Oh, and another important thing. My next chapters will be longer, but this will also mean I'll update slower because of the translation and my life problems. But I hope (and believe me, I really want) to finish this. And please, if I make embarassing grammar mistakes TELL me! So I can correct them. I don't do them on purpose!

Well, have a nice day everybody! Bye!

-Ines


	2. Different Levels of Thought

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kids Next Door. I just own an English dictionary called Garzanti (I swear), a portable computer and an iPod touch. Nothing else

First of all, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my stories! *bows* Since you are amazing I have to tell you a couple of things. I had to split the second chapter in two parts. This is the first, the second one will be publish in a week or in ten days. Why? Because I spent nine days just translating the first part. I planned to publish it entirely but I fed up (it's extremely enervating looking up for every word in the dictionary). The second part will be here in 9-10 days, because it's pretty long.

Please, after reading this, remember english is not my first language, okay? I don't make grammar mistakes on purpose and if I do, please tell me so I'll correct them immediately. Thank you

I forgot to mention this fic is set two weeks after I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. Read and leave a review if you want.

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_"Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny."_

_**-John Oliver Hobbes-**_

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**_"Why the crud did they chose you? You're not the sharpest tool in the shed at all. You're like, the seventh best."_**

**_"The fourth, thank you!"_**

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Rachel sighed from behind her desk. As always she found herself inside her office in the Moonbase, intent on finishing off the huge amount of paperwork behind schedule. She would spend at least another hour to complete it. The blonde kid had just come back from her weekend down on Earth, because even if she was the Supreme Leader she needed a distraction and to spend some time with people close to her who, to be honest, weren't so much aside from her family. Sure, Numbuh 86 could be considered a good friend and an excellent operative, although she herself had to intervene to stop the mysantropic girl from beating and throwing the occasional stupid boy (and usually a new-comer) in outer space because he made some comments about her hair, personality and/or other things that could bother the redhead, but their relationship was mainly professional and their meetings were always limited to the Moonbase, they didn't have the possibility to see each other in another place; the same was for the good old Numbuh 60, but just when he wasn't training new cadets in the Arctic Base.

She passed an hand through her hair. That's what you get when you let your job be a priority over friendships. In the end, you remain alone.

Her weekend with her family was a total failure. And stressful. Until some months ago the free time in Earth with her parents was a relaxing and heart-warming break from work, in which she could play, have fun... in short, behave as a _child_, because those were the only moments where she could put aside her responsible and strict personality and act immaturely, because there were her parents who took over the duty to look after her and her little brother. She was really happy during those days.

But lately it seemed something had changed between them and in their way of living, as she could see through the robot-kid that "substituted" her when she was in the Moonbase. As the days went by, her father was absenting himself from family and was coming home very late; every time her mother stayed awake waiting for him, and when he finally arrived, she screamed at him investigating questions, like where he had been, with who, why did he come at that time of the night... he always gave her rude answers, she raised her voice, he did the same, and then they began fighting furiously, and all this mess usually ended with her father going away and slamming the door behind, and with her mother crying her heart out. Rachel didn't see her father again until morning, when her robot-like was walking her way to pick the bus. For the rest of the day, her parents didn't exchange a single word. This was when nothing happened, but a cup fell on the floor, a broken glass or even a snort was enough to cause another quarrel.

Rachel's home by now was a living hell, and she felt relieved when she had to interrupt the communication with the robot because of some kid carrying documents for her to sign or for an important operation.

But after the occasional distraction, she always started again to think about her parents. The whole situation left her saddened and confused: why were they behaving like that? What was wrong? Dad had some problems at work? Or maybe her and Harvey had done something bad? What if all this was _her_ fault...?

Maybe it was. Maybe, given the fact she was never at home, she didn't pay attention on what her parents really wanted her to do, such as having good notes at school, being a nice girl... She could be the reason of their sadness...

Rachel shook her head. She didn't want to think about it. She couldn't let her familiar problems interfered with her job...

...like it had happened lately.

The T.R.E.A.T.Y. event was still haunting her. Although Fanny, Patton and other agents had reassured they understood she had done that for everybody's sake and nobody could have imagined the treaty was aimed at destroying the KND, the Supreme Leader couldn't help but hate herself, wondering how could have been so _stupid_ to fall to the Teenz' trap... Crud, instead of protecting them, she risked to put in danger lots of children! What kind of Supreme Leader she was?

Rachel resumed her working, but kept on turning over in her mind. Plus, she had to look after Harvey. Her little brother was very upset about the home situation, even if he didn't let it see; but his sister knew him too well to be fooled. He was more irritable than usual, he didn't want to play anymore, preferred to spend most of his time to his Sector treehouse instead of going home and took the habit to sleep there; it didn't matter to their parents. Nothing mattered to them anymore.

That was why she was assigning to Harvey more and more missions, to distract him and make him forget temporarily their problems. To be true, this was the real reason she had assigned the cake operation to his Sector and not to...

Rachel shook her head once again. _"Don't think about it"_ she thought. She couldn't think about it. She felt terrible every time she did, because the subject always reminded her of Nigel Uno a.k.a. Numbuh One.

She couldn't understand. And accept it, too. When she asked what happened to their leader, the remaining Sector V told her, in a mood somewhat sad, that he was gone. Shocked, she made other questions consisting in _where_ did he go and _why_ did he go; the operatives answered he was the best agent in the organization and had been chosen to do something important regarding children's sake. Her mood got worse when they added he wouldn't come back ever again.

Ever again.

The Supreme Leader went on unceasingly with her questions, and although they didn't reveal the place he was now (and she suspected his teammates actually knew where the place), a name came out; Numbuh Infinity.

She hurried to contact him and after giving vent to her anger towards him about taking on one of her operatives without her consent for a mission secret to the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door, she demanded answers. Infinity told her the same things Sector V related before, adding she didn't need to worry and she had to continue leading the organization. Before cutting the transmission, he said it was a very important mission she couldn't know about because she wouldn't understand. Also he told her to not contact him ever again if the subject regarded Nigel's status.

Rachel didn't like it. At all. He pratically ordered her to not meddle in with this thing!

She was the Supreme Leader, for Pete's sake! Of course she had to be acknowledged of a, of every, operative status! She had to know everything regarding the organization, it was her job! Who did he think Infinity was? Since she was the Supreme Leader, she was the highest grade in all the KND!

…Right?

"Of course you are, don't be silly, Rachel." She told herself. There couldn't be grades upper than hers.

However, needless to say, this affair had made her upset. And unhappy.

So, Nigel was gone. The realization had brought her down for several days, not wanting believe it. Why?, she had asked. And a part of her had replied that Nigel was like this: he fought for children's rights, he couldn't stand adult tiranny, and if there was an important fact concerning these two factors, he would take it and accomplish it, no matter how much time he would take, what he had to sacrifice…

No matter if he had to go.

No matter if he had to leave his parents, his friends… her.

And the worst thing was she didn't even know about his departure! She hadn't say goodbye to him, talk with him for the last time… confess her real feelings for the boy.

Rachel should have known. She had hoped that after his break up with Lizzie, something between them could have changed. That time would have helped and let them become closer. But apparently not. Maybe they were never meant to be together. All these moments… were just illusions. Just a result of her mind.

After her transmission with Numbuh Infinity, she had gone to the bathroom and stayed in there for half an hour. Nobody never knew why. Then she had come out and had continued her job, acting like nothing have happened. She kept on leading the organization.

The blonde wasn't the kind of girl who mourned over something like this during all her life. Did they say Nigel would never come back? For much it was painful, she couldn't do anything about it. The world keeps on spinning and it can't be stopped. She had to move on.

But from that day on, Rachel felt completely lonely.

Her work was growing out of all proportion, her family life was about to collapse, and she didn't have a friend who told her she was doing right, that she was made for this job, that she was a very good kid and an excellent leader…

…because she believed she wasn't anymore.

An excellent leader didn't put in danger an entire kids organization who went on for ages. An excellent leader didn't let to make lots of children hurt. And a good kid cared about her parents, she would never neglect them, make them unhappy and hate each other because of her carelessness. A good kid would be a better daughter.

Rachel came back to reality, and put aside her thoughts. She couldn't let her mind wander when she was working. She had important things to do.

Numbuh 362 started to check some sheets on her desk. She gave a look to the list that reported the Sectors busy with various operations. Currently Sector V was running through the Pacific Ocean in search of a lost island in which there was a candy factory that created sweets able to brainwash kids. No one still knew who was behind it. That reminded Rachel she had to assign a new member to Sector V; well, she would discuss this with Numbuh Five once they completed the operation, now it wasn't possible.

She was reading a report from the new-zelandian Sector regarding some quarrels they were having with the Maori Sector, when her computer started up, informing an incoming transmission. When Rachel raised her eyes and gave her attention to the screen, she froze. In the screen showed up no one but the Delightful Children From Down The Line, smiling wickedly at her.

"Good morning, Numbuh 362. How are you?" They greeted Rachel all together and in the same usual well-mannered tone.

Overcoming her initial astonishment, she asked angrily: "Ho-how the crud you did manage to contact me in my computer?"

"We imagine that being rich, and so able to assume hackers to track the most important communication sources may help, dear Supreme Leader. Heh, heh, he" they chuckled.

Rachel stood up from her seat and adopted a confident pose. If they contacted her it was for an important reason, probably concerning some evil plan of theirs, secret to everybody, but that was working right now and the Kids Next Door didn't figure it out in time. They just wanted to rub it in her face. Whatever they were going to tell her, she had to stand up to those Delightful Dorks.

"Look, I don't wanna waste my time with your annoying prompts. What do you want from me?"

For a nanosecond, to Rachel seemed that a moment's hesitation came to their features, but she wasn't sure. Maybe it had been just a trick of the light.

"You should pay attention to your rude attitude, 362. Otherwise we could, we don't know, slip some important information about KND and let every villain in the world know about its deepest secrets." They replied with an evil smirk.

"What kind of 'important information' are ya talking about?"

"Oh, so important that dates back to the beginnings of your Organization and goes on 'til today."

Rachel was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe this will make you understand." They said. To this point Lenny, the boy with the football helmet let out something from his blue jacket. It was a book; it seemed quite familiar and the cover was identical to…

The blonde eleven-year-old girl nearly had a shock. That was the Book of KND, the most precious collection of documents containing the complete history of the organization from its origins, without counting other data, such as the blueprints of the most famous 2x4 technologies, or the reports of the most legendary operations… and at last but not at least, the original Code Module!

She was disturbed, but a thought flashed through her mind: 'Wait. It cannot be the real book. Maybe it's a copy, and they're just bluffing'. "Yeah, sure. I bet that's not the real book." she said with insolence. "You're just faking so you can scare and manipulate us without any problems. Actually you don't have it."

"You're offending us, Numbuh 362." the Delightful Children replied in a challenging tone of voice. "Unlike you Kids Next Door, we don't tell lies. We guess we have to read some lines to convince you…"

The short girl took the book from her "brother's" hands and turned over the pages. When she came to the last page, all the Delightful Children read it and then looked up to Rachel: "The most recent information reported was written after Grandfather failed in destroying the KND with his army of citi-zombies and curiously, consists of just five letters: 'We are Kids Next Door'. How touching." They grinned. "Do you think we're lying now?"

Rachel's heart skipped a beat. She was there with the other operatives when Numbuh One wrote it. They couldn't know about it.

They really had the Book of KND. It was in their hands. They weren't lying.

She strongly wished it was, instead.

"How the _crud_ did you manage to steal it?" she growled.

"We didn't steal it, Numbuh 362. Let's just say we had a stroke of luck and someone give it us like nothing, that's all."

"Yeah, right." She responded skeptically, "And the moon is made of cheese. You really have to be stupid if you think I'd buy it." The Supreme Leader narrowed her eyes. "So. I guess you want something in exchange for the Book, it isn't?"

This time Rachel saw it. There was something unusual in their attitude. Before speaking, the Delightful Children exchanged worried looks to each other, as if they weren't sure of what they were doing. With their voices modulated by uncertainty, they said: "Well, actually we'd prefer just you to know about it…"

Rachel raised a brow. "Why?"

"You see…" They rubbed their respective necks. Their eyes were looking everywhere but on the place where the blonde girl was standing.

The Supreme Leader had never seen them behaving in this way. So nervous, so… out of character. Those five kids didn't have problems to talk with her or with other agents.

The Delightful Children cleared their throats embarrassed and spoke up again: "What we're going to ask it's very… confidential, yes. Nobody must learn about it. No kid, no teenager and above all, no adult. Understood?"

Rachel looked at them suspicious. Then nodded.

The kids, as if themselves couldn't believe in what they were saying, sighed and continued with their speech: "We…"

Five minutes later, the Supreme Leader's expression had totally changed. Her distrustful and authoritative look was gone and at its place, there was amazement and bewilderment in her face. Her mouth was slightly open.

"Could you please stop staring us? We don't know even why we're doing this, okay?" The five children cried desperately in unison from the screen.

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**_"Limit."_**

**_"Infinity."_**

**_"..."_**

**_"..."_**

**_"Traitor."_**

**_"Fool."_**

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Limit was relaxing. He loved relaxing, although for a brief period of time: he was conscious that soon he'd have to come back to his body and continue his task .

Now he was watching the stars. They were all around him, as they should be in his actual state.

Limit couldn't figure out in which part of the universe he was floating at the moment, but he didn't care. He just needed silence and that breathtaking view almost nobody could have the possibility to admire and understand. The indescribable peace of outer space was a balm for his soul.

And he didn't have a sex now. When he was in a superior level of reality, he couldn't. Sure, in the material world he had, but here was impossible being male or female. Sexual gender was only a prerogative of the very first reality's level that some living beings possessed to contribute towards the necessary reproduction of their own species. The truth was there wasn't a gender at all… simply because souls didn't have one.

At the beginning of his apprenticeship, he had been rather puzzled by this fact but, like every other newbie, in the end he had accepted it.

After some considerations, he came to a decision and changed his current shape. Limit concentrated and turned himself into a sky-blue creature, humanoid with two big shining eyes and a nebulous body.

He liked this shape, because it was simple to create and easy to control. It was very comfortable to move with, also, instead of complicated and useless forms such as pluricellular organisms or robots.

Limit gazed at the stars once more. He really couldn't recall to which galaxy they belonged to, but he knew it wasn't important. As long as they existed, there was nothing to be afraid of.

He allowed himself another moment of contemplation, then he decided to return to his work. Some kids needed his help. He was the only one who could help them, who could free them.

He concentrated, and waited.

Suddenly, Limit was swallowed up and carried away through universe by an unknown force. Countless planets, asteroids, meteorites and solar systems passed near, behind, in front of, through him with unnatural speed.

He wasn't traveling at the speed of light, of course. Otherwise he would have spent the next six-seven millions of years in space trying to reach his destination.

It was all about mind. Mind was the most powerful existing force. Combined with soul. Too bad nobody noticed.

Limit sought the Milky Way; just a few seconds more… and he would arrive. Then the strange force, like it had came, vanished.

He had a quick look round, focusing the place he was now. The world was grey. And _transparent._

Well, he was at the third reality level. The landscape had to look this way, of course.

The buildings were close on invisible and intangible, as if they weren't real and could fade away at any moment. But… but the living beings…

…were visible. Very visible. It was impossible not perceiving them. Only living beings gave off that vital but underrated energy: electromagnetic energy. In the case of animals and humans, it started from their brains.

'Floating' in his ethereal state, Limit finally found his objective; it had been rather simple, to be true, because he knew where it was situated and that altered electromagnetism was easy to locate, to feel. Its trace stood out in the air like a rainbow for a particular reason.

First of all, that energy came from not one mind, but five. Second, they worked as one and they shared it. Limit perfectly knew why.

He approached the five kids, busy at talking to someone and at the same time, fixing something to the wall in front of them. He presumed they were talking to a friend through an image screen. He could hear the words, but didn't pay attention; it wasn't important.

What it was important instead, was their minds.

The _original_ ones.

They were sleepy, blocked. Trapped.

But were still there.

Before starting, he analyzed the problem for the hundredth time by now: some cerebral neurons had became obsolete, while others had been modified and had diverged from their primary roles, in this way controlling their thoughts and cancelling automatically the "dangerous" ones. The nerve centre responsible for body's principal needs (eating, breathing, defecating, etc.) had remained unchanged, but there had been added another one that kept their nervous synapsis connected with each other and this obliged the children to act simultaneously.

If he could in his current form, he would have sighed. It was a difficult and delicate situation, indeed. Although he was one of the best and had a lot of experience in this field, he was facing an hard challenge: it was very risky restoring brains like these… if something went wrong, they could be killed…

But he would have done that. It wasn't just a professional thing, it was something moral and personal too. If he would have free them, it meant there was a possibility for his…

Limit stopped that train of thought. He couldn't get his hopes up so easily: despite several improvements in the last weeks, the matter was still far to be solved. Sure, he had succeeded in destroying some major controlling points of their brains and even in opening various "holes", which not only let their true personalities formulating own thoughts that influenced the oppressive artificial system, but let the children behave like their old selves for a brief period of time, too. Unluckily, it was still a drop to the ocean, because those points every time rebuilt themselves. Reassuming, he had done just the 15% of the work. He still had lot to do.

Limit got ready to enter in their minds. The electromagnetic rays coming from them were powerful and tempting, but he resisted from absorbing that energy; in his current state, it would become an horrible drug. That was the first thing he had learnt during his apprenticeship, the results of this action lead to total perdition.

He was going to seep into their heads definitely, when he caught some words of the speech the five kids were having at the moment. "…find a girlfriend for Father."

Limit stopped, astounded.

"Yes, like we said, 362. In exchange of the Book, we want you to find a girlfriend for Father…"

This line caused his mood to get better. He couldn't believe it. One of their original thoughts (although he was the one who conditioned it) had went over mental defenses and installed inside the principal and artificial nerve centre that controlled their brains.

There was hope.

At this point Limit suspended temporarily his job and drew his attention to the discussion.

**

* * *

**

_"What? On vacation? AGAIN? But this is the fifth time in TWO MONTHS!"_

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-Transmission Interrupted... Please standby...-

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**Author's Note: **I hate HATE this chapter. I made a mess in describing Rachel's feelings, I wanted to made her think as a child with a crush, but I fear I overdid them. And since I divided the original chapter, I'm also afraid I made you confused in some points. Sorry about that. Sometimes I really hate myself; I'll start translating the rest as soon as possible, although I'll have to work in my parents shop until school reopens.

The next chapter will be a little more humorous and will involve Sector W's enlisting on this mission and an OC of mine. There just a few of OCs, and I'm so glad that the most "important" one (who will apppear later) has resulted not being a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. You see, before starting this story, I made a Mary Sue test, and my character resulted 13; that means it's not-mary-sue-at-all! *dances happily*. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for another OC so, since I _won't _accept any Mary-Sue in my fic, I'm constantly changing some scenes. I hope to make it.

By the way** MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! **Have a nice holiday!


	3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

**Disclaimer:** Finally the second part is translated! Sorry, but my parents obliged me to work with them in the shop during festivities (without being payed, of , and it's not a good thing, I assure you.) Well, on with the story, since in a few days I have to come back to school, and the same goes for most of you, I guess.

In my last entry I said this chapter was more hilarious... well, sorry, but since I'm not a funny person, it turned out a sort of british humor, written very badly. I can't write funny things, I can just make parodies and nothing else.

Well, my usual reccommendations: if I make some grammar mistakes tell me (I read chapter 2 again and I figured out is PLENTY of errors! I'll correct them as soon as I can), because i'm Italian and English is not my first language. Also, I thank everybody who's reading this fic, I really appreciate that. If you want leave a review.

**Edit 04/01/2011: **I corrected some mistakes, but I believe there are more. Again, tell me if you spot one.

******

* * *

**Transmission Reestablished... Please Standby...

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_What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night,__  
So stumblest on my counsel?_

_**-William Shakespeare-**_

* * *

_**"You, afraid of Numbuh Infinity? Puh-please! The only terrible thing about this guy is his clothing!"**_

* * *

"What's taking her so long? I don't like this cafe at all."

"Ooh, c'mon Harvey, why don't you like it? Here the food is good and cheap."

"I think so too, Tommy. Also, it's really cute inside; and it's in the middle of the park, what can you ask for more?"

"Yeah, and the way that kid plays his guitar is cool."

"Okay, okay, I got it! I just wanted to express my point of view." said Harvey McKenzie, aka Numbuh 363, aka Leader of Sector W, taking another sip of his soda.

Ten minutes ago him and his team were relaxing at their treehouse: Sonya having a tea party with her dolls, Lee practicing with his yo-yo, and Paddy, Tommy and Harvey himself playing videogames; the buck-toothed boy not only was defeating his friends, but was one step from beating his personal score. Suddenly in the screen had appeared an emergency message that had irreparably compromised the game. Although he got a bit angry at first (on the other hand personal records can't be beaten everyday) had decided to read it. His big sister, the Supreme Leader of Kids Next Door, requested a meeting with his sector ASA-now, not at the Moonbase, but at some place near their treehouse, because she wanted to assign them a super-hyper-mega-ultra mission and talk about it personally. According to the message, no other operative couldn't know this: it involved KND's safety.

Normally, Harvey would had welcomed the news enthusiastically as an occasion of bragging around: a very dangerous mission in which the future of the entire organization was in his (and his team's too, but he was the one who led them) hands and he could risk his own life, but… he wasn't in the right mood lately. There were some problems at home.

So, under his teammates' suggestion, they decided to meet each other where they were waiting now. The place was modest but nice and safe: nobody would have paid attention to a bunch of little kids.

The five seven-year-olds were sitting down at a table near the corner, waiting for their superior. A kid was playing a guitar to entertain the customers.

"What does Numbuh 362 have to tell us?" asked Sonya to no one in particular.

"Maybe some evil adult invented a device that can produce flu and make every child in the world ill." suggested Tommy.

"But why hiding this to the others?"

"I have no idea." The chubby boy addressed to the redhead kid sitting near him. "What do you think, Paddy?"

"Hm?" Paddy Fulbright, aka Numbuh 85, gave him a distant look . "What were you saying?"

Tommy sighed, then asked: "Still thinking about her, dontcha?"

Paddy lowered his eyes depressed. "Sorry… it's not easy…"

"You have to let it go, pal."

"Let it go? She left me for that… jerk, and I want to know why, thank you!" the redhead roughly. Then he seemed to be sorry. "Forgive me, it's just… I don't know what's up with me lately."

His teammates sighed in unison. They knew perfectly why her ex-girlfriend had dumped him: because she was a snotty and spoilt brat. But they didn't have the courage to tell him.

Ten days ago Paddy had found himself a girlfriend. She was very pretty and came from a really wealthy family (however he didn't care about the last thing), and the boy fell for her. He had tried everything for conquering her: wearing clothes of the moment (the ones he could allow himself, of course), reading books about this subject, etc. After various tries, he had finally succeeded, despite some parts of his body had been damaged during the courtship (as hiding himself in a bush of nettle without knowing, or staring at her while walking together and knocking his skull against a lamppost.)

Too bad she soon decided to leave him for the son of a mega-millionaire man who was an old friend of her family.

When she dumped him, Paddy became very depressed. He was right, although: that had been the longest relationship he had ever had with a girl.

It had lasted three days.

To be true, it had also been his only relationship with a girl.

Although several days had passed since the break-up, Paddy still couldn't get over her and was having serious mood swings, annoying for both him and his team. His spirits worsened every time something ordinary reminded him of his ex-'girlfriend', like a butterfly, a teapot, a letterbox… even his dad's cigar was somewhat connected to the girl. And all this made difficult for his friends to console him.

Naturally the rest of Sector W was trying to cheer their teammates with any means necessary, such as hinting they never liked her (but not saying what they actually thought of her: if those suddenly came back together, they just knew Paddy would tell her everything about his friends said before; it wasn't because they didn't trust him, but they were beginning to realize how love could dull a sane person).That's why friends are for. However, it was useless: sadness still remained. They consulted their respective parents who told them to wait. Time would have heal everything.

But they wished to get their good old Numbuh 85 back. They were also a bit scared: their mate, because of this fact, was behaving like a cruddy teenager.

Well, maybe this super secret mission would have improved his mood.

"You should forget your love problems at the moment." said the sector leader annoyed. "If this is gonna be a dangerous mission, you have to keep focus."

"Hiya, dudes! What's up?"

The five kids turned to the person that just spoke. It was a dark-skinned boy of ten years old, with brown eyes and dark hair. He was carrying an acoustic guitar.

"Hi, Sam." the KND agents greeted.

The boy smiled. He had a reputation of liking, but… of weirdness, too. That was because he always took his pet chick with him. Whose name was Dion. And because he used to talk with 'her' as if it was a real person: Sam asserted she could understand everything he said.

Other important factors were his clothes. If a famous stylist would see that concourse of clothing, he would have had an heart failure.

He usually wore a red Hawaiian shirt under a green sleeveless jacket full of pockets that was two sizes bigger than his, a pair of black sports trousers, and white tennis shoes.

"We've heard you're playing here, now." said Tommy. "How it is compared with Lime Rickey's?"

The boy shrugged: "Almost the same. Maybe here's a little too hot, but Dion and I don't complain." Something clucked near his feet. An hen, wearing a red handkerchief around her head as an hood, was pecking on the floor.

The seven-year-olds nodded. Sam had worked at Lime Rickey's for some time, and despite several friction between him and the owner, he had succeeded in attracting lots of customers who believed food was more enjoyable with good music. Unfortunately, he had an odd sense of humor that used to put him constantly in trouble, especially with his superiors, and it had contributed to his firing. The climax had been an unpleasant accident happened a few weeks ago. Besides the fact all the place was found covered of whipped cream, detail weren't still clear: people just knew a water pipe, a bookshelf and the song 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' were involved in the madness. And it was March.

So, since Sam had been banned from Lime Rickey's for life, he searched for a new place for keep practicing with his guitar when he was on vacation (as he said) and apparently he had found one. Nobody knew how he managed to make them engage him for all his bad record, but probably the kid didn't mention his little show to his new employers.

"Whatcha doin' here?" he asked while he picked the fowl up into his arms.

"It's nothing of your business." answered the Sector leader roughly.

"Harvey!" hissed Sonya, then smiled gave an apologetic look to Sam. "Forgive him. He's in a bad period."

"That's not true!" replied Harvey angrily. "I don't have any problem! I'm fine! I've never felt so well!"

"Can I touch you?" Sam questioned out of nowhere.

"What? Are you joking? Of course not!"

"What if this time I just poke…"

"Forget it." Why that weirdo wanted to touch him every time they met?

Sam turned to the rest of the team. "He still didn't get over this fear, right?"

"That's a lie, I don't fear to be touched, it's just I find it annoying. However why do you want to touch me?"

The dark-skinned boy shrugged again: "I'm curious about why you hate it so much. Is it because your skin is rough?"

"No."

"Scaly?"

"No!"

"Thorny?"

"NO! I don't enjoy being touched and that's all! Will you shut up?"

"Whoa, okay, okay. Just asking, dude." said Sam calmly.

"Cool it, people." added Lee.

"We're here because the Supreme Leader of KND has to assign an operation to us. She will come at any moment." explained Sonya.

Sam's eyes widened in excitement: "Wow! A KND operation! About what?"

"We don't know yet." answered Tommy.

Harvey glared at the older kid: "Like we're gonna tell you! You're not a Kids Next Door operative, so you're not allowed to know the business of our organization."

Sam opened his mouth, but remained silent. Then he shut it and smiled: "Yup, you're right. Sorry dude."

"I'm glad you are."

"By the way, I got something for you guys." he said (always holding his pet) while drawing out some stained thin cards from one of the innumerable pockets of his jacket. "In this neighborhood they're organizing a party to celebrate the anniversary of its construction…"

"An anniversary for a neighborhood? Why?" questioned Paddy after picking a card.

"Oh, don't ask me. Maybe they just love having parties. However they're gonna be food, games, dances and above all, music! And guess who's the responsible for this one?" He grinned.

"Nice job, Sam!" Sonya congratulated him.

"With the support of other musicians, obviously."

"Now I'm thinking, I heard my mom talking about it during breakfast." said Tommy rubbing his chin.

"Hey, take a look at this!" exclaimed Paddy pointing his finger to some words written in the card. "It says the main promoters are Montgomery and Agatha Uno, Nigel's parents!"

"Cool." said Lee.

"Then this party won't be a success, after all." The buck-toothed boy insinuated.

"Don't be so mean, Harvey." retorted the blonde little girl.

"It is arranged for this Sunday, you can bring your friends and families, everyone's invited. You'll come, right?" asked Sam expectantly.

"I think I can." responded Tommy.

"Hmm, I don't know… it's a little far from where I live. But I'll do my best to come! I love parties!" said Sonya.

"The same goes for me." said Lee.

"It depends: I have to check I don't have any plans for the weekend." answered the redhead boy.

"I'm not coming. I hate parties." stated Harvey. It was the truth: people everywhere concentrated in one place was dangerous. They could _touch_ him.

"Whatever. You're all invited, anyway." warranted Sam.

"Good afternoon, Sector W."

At the sound of that voice, the five little kids stood up from their seats and saluted. Numbuh 362, the Supreme Leader of Kids Next Door, had finally arrived, wearing her usual tiger-striped sweater and brown boots. The only thing missing was the helmet that indicated her grade and codenumbuh.

"At ease." she said. When she moved forward to sit with them, she noticed the dark-skinned boy, who was staring at her incredulously, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Er… hi." the blonde girl greeted hesitantly.

"Y-you… you are… b-but how… Supreme Leader, whoa!" stuttered the boy excited.

"Do I know you?" asked Rachel confused, when suddenly took her right hand and began to shake it with energy.

"I can't believe it! After years I've been searching for you, I finally find you and discover you're the Supreme Leader of KND! Amazing! So you're the one who saves every child on planet Earth from adult tyranny! I didn't know it was you because they just told me the one who was leading the organization was an uptight and bossy kid."

"Yeah…" murmured Rachel, slightly irritated. Who the crud spread those rumors?

"So, how's life going?" questioned Sam happily.

"Er… fine, I guess." the girl raised a brow and repeated her question: "But do I know you?"

"Sure! I'm Sam! You saved my life!"

"When?"

"Three years ago, don't you remember?" To Rachel's confused expression, he kept talking: "Summer, me in the middle of the street, I was going to be run over by a car but you threw yourself towards me before it hit me, heh?" he finished full of hope.

Rachel's eyes widened when the memory came back to her mind and smiled: "Oh yes, I do remember now." How could she forget it? Not because it was a dramatic situation, not at all. It was an odd situation. That kid was in the middle of the roadway, waving his hand with a smile on his face towards a car that was proceeding at 70 km per hour. At first, Rachel thought he was doing things because he knew the driver and was saying hello to him. But she decided to intervene when she heard the boy screaming cheerfully: _'Hi, my name's Sam. What's yours?'_

The boy smiled even more: "Thank you for that day. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

Rachel reassured him: "No need to thank me. I just did my j…" a cough came from her left. His brother was tapping his foot impatient. "Listen, can we put off this dialogue for later? There's a really important mission I have to talk about with Sector W."

"Okay, break's over for me, too. I have to work, now. Glad I met you again, see ya later, dudes! Shih Ka!" he said walking away and going to the little bandstand.

"See ya later, Sam." Rachel said seeing the boy departing. She could have swore that child seemed familiar… he resembled somebody she knew, but couldn't remind to which person at the moment.

"Shih Ka? What the crud is it?" Paddy whispered to Tommy, who shrugged in response.

"Okay guys, can I have your attention, please? You better listen to me now. A super bad thing happened last night." Rachel announced, becoming serious.

As she and the younger children sat down again, music started to play and the voice of a kid began singing 'Hey Jude' by the Beatles several feet away from their table.

"Something serious?" asked Harvey.

"Totally." Rachel confirmed. "I preferred talking about it in secrecy and far from the Moonbase: I want to avoid panic within the organization." Sector W was all ears, wondering what was going on.

Rachel took a deep breath and heralded: "The Delightful Children have the Book of KND."

Tommy, who was sipping his soda, at that phrase he choked on his drink, while his teammates gasped in shock.

"W-What!" cried out Paddy, unsettled.

"That's impossible! How did they manage to steal it? They weren't even supposed to know its existence and where it was hidden!" Harvey laid it on thicker.

"The book in the hands of Father… who knows what he could do with it…" Sonya whispered scared, shivering. Lee put his hands on her shoulder trying to comfort her. "Not cool." he said.

"Father doesn't know they have the Book." added the Supreme Leader.

The seven-year-old kids looked at her confused. What did she mean?

"Of course he knows it, they work for him. Didn't he order them to take it?" questioned the Sector Leader.

"This time it seems they took the initiative by themselves." the older kid replied grimly. "And they weren't the ones who stole it. Let's say they… received it, more or less."

The five operatives looked each other. They didn't know what to think. The Delightful Children doing something on their own initiative and without telling Father? Plus, _someone else _stole the most important documents of KND regarding the whole history of the organization? That was… puzzling.

"Let me explain from the beginning." Rachel resumed her speech. "According to what _they_ say, an unknown teenager presented himself to their mansion last evening holding the book. Before giving it to the Delightful Children he begged them to not say a word about it with anybody, especially with adults, then he ran away. At first, those dorks didn't know what it was; just after glancing at it, they realized it was the Book of KND."

Harvey raised a brow: "And you believe them?"

"Not until I reach Sector V's treehouse and restore the security system and see the cameras recordings; they should have caught some movements before being hacked. However," Rachel continued speaking, "The Delightful Children want something in exchange of the Book."

"What?" Sonya wanted to know.

"It's a very… embarrassing for me to say… I find it myself hard to believe…" After a short pause, she spoke: "They want a girlfriend for Father."

An absolute silence fell onto them, as if Rachel had just told them that Numbuh 60 had abandoned his place at the Arctic Base to become a singer in a boy band; in other words, it was a really weird thing.

Harvey was the first to take the word: "I don't think I got it sis, but you're telling us that those dummies got one of the most essential mainstay of the Kids Next Door under their control, just to make sure we find an ordinary woman for Father?"

"Not an ordinary woman," specified Rachel, "but one with he'll have a long-term relationship enough to marry her."

"You mean a WIFE?"

Numbuh 362 nodded: "Exactly."

"B-but… _why_?" questioned Tommy, who succeeded in recovering himself during the conversation.

"Looks like they want some time for themselves, at least that's what I understood. They said they are having some new interests and practicing new hobbies, and don't want Father in their way."

"Hobbies? Since when they have hobbies? Aside from plotting to destroy us and celebrating their birthday with a gihugic cake that they don't share with anyone?" pointed out Paddy.

"New interests and hobbies? I… didn't see that coming." Said Sonya thoughtful, but unexpectedly, she smiled brightly. "But I think it's a really good thing!"

"WHAT?" Everyone turned to the little girl. "How can it be a good thing?"

Sonya pouted: "Well, this means they're developing own personalities."

"I think you're right, Numbuh 83." murmured Rachel, absorbed in her thoughts. Actually, during their talk, the Delightful Children were behaving in a very… strange way. They weren't in themselves. And also they seemed to regret the requests they were establishing, as if they were being _bad_ and _naughty_ children… but they did it anyway, and just for a bit of freedom.

The Supreme Leader shook her head: probably they were only playing to mislead her and drop her guard, hiding their true plan. Remembering what happened last time, she preferred not to risk, but… she wasn't so sure.

First of all, as Harvey noticed before, in theory the Delightful Children didn't know the location of the book; of course, they could have used a spy and discovered it, but what was the point in lying? They could have perfectly said they had stolen it and stop, without taking the trouble to think up such a fabrication.

Besides, knowing Father, he would have shout it out loud he had the Book now, and as happy as a sand-boy, he would have immediately blackmailed the KND, telling them all his perverse demands, in which Rachel _didn't_ believe there was one that consisted in getting him a wife. Or maybe yes, who knew?

By the way, there was a detail even more confusing… given that they were telling the truth, why in the world a teenager, _who also they had never met_, should have handed over the book to them? It didn't make any sense…

"Hey! Why did he stop in the middle of the song?"

Tommy's question brought her back to reality. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts not realizing no one was playing music anymore. It could be heard some bustle from the little bandstand.

"Perhaps there is a fault in his gui-" the sentence was cut off by the scream of a girl.

All of a sudden Sam, with the guitar in his back and the hen in his hands, he darted out of the bar at full speed.

The six kids looked at each other puzzled. Just when Harvey opened his mouth to comment the fact, the enraged voice of a girl roared all over the place. "Where did he go? _WHERE DID HE GO?"_

All the customers turned their heads to that sound. There were three teenage girls, in which one half-lying on the floor and with an hand covering her nose, she had blonde hair tied with an elastic band; one of her companions had Hispanic complexion and was helping the first girl to pick herself up, while the third one was gazing over the tables obviously searching for the boy now gone. She was similar to…

Tommy winced: "Cree!" Rachel and every member of Sector W deviated their faces from Cree's, hoping she didn't recognize them.

Cree Lincoln, ex-operative and traitor of KND, at present considered one of the most dangerous Teen Ninjas, approached the two girls and ordered: "C'mon! Let's go after him!"

"H-he p-punched me… he just punched me in the nose!" the blonde teenage whimpered. "He's sooo mean! What if it's broken? I don't wanna have a broken nose, now I'll never get a boyfriend!" She busted out into tears.

"Shut up, Tiffany!" Cree barked. "You'll never be one of us if you make yourself discover so easily! Now stop making scenes, everyone's staring at us." She left the room, followed by the two teammates.

"If everyone is so mean with me, I don't wanna become a Teen Ninja anymore…" the blonde girl's voice faded gradually once they went outside, and the Teen Ninjas began chasing the dark-skinned boy. When they made sure the girls were gone, the six kids began commenting the situation.

"Wow. What did Sam do against those teenagers to make them send after him?" asked Paddy with curiosity.

"Nothing good without a doubt, if there's Cree with them." Rachel responded standing up. In what trouble did that weirdo put himself into? "I go help him."

"We're coming, sis." said Harvey standing up in his turn.

"Don't. It seems like the other two teens are just tenderfeet, I'll get out of it easily. Plus," she added menacingly, "I've some unsettled account with her. However this is your mission: find a wife for Father."

"Are you _mad_?" cried Harvey shocked. "Practically our mission is becoming some cruddy matchmakers?"

"No! I mean. yes… well, in reality I want you to use the 'find-a-wife-for-Father' thing just as cover, but you're real mission will consists in finding out where the book is hidden. Then you'll leave it all to me."

"And what will you do?"

"Meanwhile I'll make some investigations. If the Delightful Children are telling the truth about its stealing, I want to know why this teenager did that. Good luck, Sector W." She finished her speech and left the cafeteria, following the three teens.

The entire Sector W remained silent for a moment, the Tommy made the fateful question: "Ehmm… what should we do, boss?"

"Don't ask me! I've never had a girlfriend!" the buck-toothed boy replied.

At this words him, Tommy, Sonya and Lee looked at Paddy. Who got depressed.

"Oooh, man…" murmured the redhead. Maybe this operation wouldn't contribute the poor boy to forget his love disappointment.

Sonya sighed. It was gonna be a _long_ mission.

* * *

_**"You're not worthy of me. Talk to my hand."**_

* * *

Three minutes later the five operatives were walking through the park to come back at their treehouse. Since the days were drawing out, sunlight was still present, although now the sun was going to set soon; nevertheless, it was illuminating the naturalistic property of the park, such as trees, flowers and ponds, where ducks were swimming with their ducklings, giving in its simplicity a relaxing show of colors and a sense of peacefulness.

Lee, playing absent-mindedly with his yoyo and at the same keeping pace with his teammates (who were talking about what they should do once they reached their base), was admiring the view that stood up in front him with a smile when he saw something moving through the bushes. Became curious, he stopped to observe carefully. Maybe it was a squirrel…

Two shining red eyes glared at him from inside the shadows of the shrub. Lee was paralysed with fear. He wasn't an animal expert, but he was almost sure no animal in the world had this kind of eyes. But he realized those were a predator's eyes, a predator who was patiently studying how to capture his prey.

The boy tried to move but his body wasn't obeying. He was like hypnotized by that sinister light, red as blood, promising as d…

"Lee!"

The boy with the snow hat turned quickly to the person who was calling him.

"We were almost leaving you behind, why did you stop?" asked Sonya coming up to him. Seeing the expression on his face, she worried. "Are you fine?"

"Y-yeah. I think I am." Lee came back to watch into the bushes. The red eyes were gone.

"Are you sure? You're so pale, you don't feel well?" she insisted.

"No, no, I'm cool. It's just, I think I've seen…" he looked again with more attention, but there wasn't anything between the plants. He then shook his head and addressed to his friend. "Nothing. It must have been my imagination."

"What?"

"Some eyes… but don't worry." he reassured her, but his heart was still pounding against his chest.

Sonya took his hand and squeezed it; Lee gave her a smile, thankful of the gesture, and then they resumed their walk and quicken the pace to catch up with their companions.

One minute later, the clamp of bushes shook once again. The thing got out of hideout, and with inhuman speed and he made for the internal of the park and far from the path, reaching for the place it had been ordered to go.

When it disappeared, the place remained identical as before, without giving the impression someone had been there a moment ago.

Except for some small pieces of clay in the sprigs.

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"Bro, whatever happens, you'll always love me, right?"

**_"... Okay, what did you do this time?"_**

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****Transmission Interrupted... Please Standby...**

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Author's Note: And here's the most important OC of this fic. Even if the test says he's not a Mary Sue, I have to keep him from becoming one, and so for the others. And I added a Sonya-Lee moment, happy? But I won't write any fluffy things about them, just little and normal moments, got it? I don't like fluff, sorry, and the same goes to the pairings are going to appear soon. I hope I made the KND agents act like children, it's something I really want to do in my story.

However, although probably I won't write them, some new ideas for stories are popping in my mind, sadly they all regard Phineas and Ferb: A crossover with Codename: Kids Next Door, another one with Xiaolin Showdown, and a parody about horror movies, always starring Phineas and Ferb. *sighs* But it's my last year, I can't do anything now.

Also, I'm wondering if I should add Maurice to the mix, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea.

Well, that's all for now. I hope to publish a new chapter next month. Bye and thanks for reading!


	4. Secrets and New Friends

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Codename: Kids Next Door. If I did, the GKND would have never existed and Rachel would have never been decommisioned. I just own a portable computer, an iPod Touch, a very old English dictionary and a new haircut. Oh, a new English grammar corrector for my computer, so now I won't make many mistakes as before (but I'll keep doing them, anyway.)

Okay, sorry for the delay, but you can blame work, life, school, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Charles Dickens and Karl Marx for it. And there are another important things you need to know, but I'll tell you later.

As always: I'm Italian and this means English is not my native language, if I make some grammar mistakes please tell me and I'll correct immediatly. Also, please TELL ME if my OCs are Mary Sues/Gary Stus, if they are, I'll kill them. I'm not joking, I'll do it!

Warnings: heavy presence of OCs, counting the other two Teen Ninjas in the last chapter. But don't worry, aside from this chapter they won't steal the spotlight anymore (at least for now) and some of them won't appear for a long time. From now on, they will have just a supportive role and nothing else. Then, this is my first trying in writing a hand-to-hand combat scene(Cree vs,Rachel) and it sucks and if you love me, please skip that part of the story 'cause I'm ashamed of it. And last but not least, remember this is NOT a Rachel/OC fic, it's an examination of Rachel/Nigel relationship that will be explored later on; it will be jut a simple girl/boy friendship, and if you do not believe in this kind of relationships, well, too bad for you. Personally, I've got lots of boys as friends (and I still do) and I've always been fine with it.

Well, that's enough. On with the story. Read and review if you want (although it's a good thing if you leave a review).

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_"It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place."_  
_**-Henry Louis Mencken-**_

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**Transmission Re-established... Please Standby...**

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_"...but I liked 'Black Canary' more..."_

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"C-can we settle this peacefully?"

One of the teenagers pushed the dark skinned boy against the wall and immobilized his arms. Sam was baffled: he didn't remember there was a dead end in the corner between the pizzeria and the hardware store. They must have been the ones who put it there, of course! There was no other possible explanation!

The blonde girl was ransacking (or at least, trying to) the sleeveless green jacket that the boy was wearing before, while his guitar was lying a few meters away from her. Cree, on the other hand, was standing in front of him holding the white hen by the neck and smiling with perfidy.

"So," she began, totally ignoring the child's request, "you're the boy wanted by the KND. Me and my friends were just wondering what you have done of so serious to enrage Numbuh Infinity and make him send the Decommissioning Squad after you almost one hour ago." She shook her head, "But I understand him. I've got a nosey parker little sibling as I spy, too."

"He did WHAT?" he exclaimed, incredulous by the news. "I didn't do anything! And I'm not a nosey parker! I'm not a spy at all!" He struggled against the Hispanic girl's grasp.

"Yeah, right." she turned and addressed to the Teen Ninja behind her and her teammate. "Found anything?"

The blonde teen was still arduously trying to zip down one of the pockets without success. "These thingies are so difficult to open!" she shouted back.

Cree rolled her eyes and counted mentally to ten, not wanting to lose patience like the last time. Why did she have to train such a brainless goose?

"Hey, that's privacy in-fringe-ment! Take your hands off my jacket!" Sam protested, but his warder stomped vehemently on his foot, shutting him up and making him moaning of pain. "We make the orders here, brat!" she screamed.

"That's right, Natalia." Cree approved. To the contrary of that birdbrain, this greenhorn learned fast and had a very determined and smart personality. Even too much, according to her. The dark skinned girl had to put her on the path: she would never accept a Teen Ninja better than her.

"I guess you're wondering why we captured you." she continued. "Well, you know, we're curious. Why does Numbuh Infinity want your memory erased so badly?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything!"

"Really? His warrant of arrest says otherwise. We've been able to tap a transmission directed to the Moonbase, and it says you took illegally possession of super-ultra-secret information regarding the Organization and that now you're threatening to reveal them to their most fierce enemies." she smiled sweetly, "You must know we're their most fierce enemies. This is your occasion: why don't you tell us about this 'reserved information' he chatters so much?"

"I don't know anything." Sam replied stubbornly.

She glared at him: "Okay, this will make loosen your tongue." She put the hen in front of the boy's eyes and tightened with vigor her grasp around the animal's neck, which became upset and began to flap her wings uneasy.

Sam gasped and looked frightened at Cree, who smirked back; the boy, feeling caught in a trap, closed his eyes and, plucking up courage, took a deep breath and said: "Last year, during a mission in Father's mansion, he was the one who vomited in his limo, not Numbuh 563. Nobody knows it."

"Not this kind of information! I'm referring about the most shocking, deep and untold secrets of the Kids Next Door. Tell us now. Otherwise, we'll serve your pet at the refectory's school!" the Teen Ninja menaced.

She felt satisfied when the terror appeared in the boy's face. He looked at her, then the hen, and then the girl again. He bit his lip, closed his eyes and shouted: "Once he got soda-drunk, he took off all his clothes remaining in pants, put a cloak on his shoulders and went dancing on our kitchen's table and in the end he fainted falling from it! And he did all this while he was singing a song!"

The two girls' jaws dropped, the image involuntarily forming in their minds. A scream came from behind them: the blonde teen had caught her finger with the zip.

The Hispanic girl shook the ten-year-old: "What song?"

"Uh?"

"What song was he singing?" she repeated, anxious to know more about it.

"Oh, I don't know the title. Something from that Dance stuff, I think… it went like 'I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt' and then it kept going with something else." He shrugged. "I'm not into this kind of music."

"…wow…"

"Stop it, Natalia!" Cree shouted, coming back to reality with a little trouble; it was obvious she was disturbed by the mental picture. "Can't you see he's just trying to distract us from the real information we need?" She clenched the animal's neck with more strength.

"No, no, no, it's true!" exclaimed Sam agitated. "I filmed everything with my phone! It's inside my jacket, you can see it!"

"You filmed Numbuh Infinity in that state and he didn't say anything?" Natalia asked interested.

"Of course he did! After that, he gave me five bucks on condition that I would have deleted it."

"But… you just said you still got it on your phone!"

Sam chuckled nervously and looked away: "Could it be that… it slipped my mind?…"

"Stop pretending to not understand!" Cree barked, her patience coming to a limit. "Tell us what we wanna know NOW!" She wouldn't have let a brat like him to make fun of her.

"But I just told you!" Sam protested, "That's the most shocking, deep and untold secret of the Kids Next Door!"

"Well, if you think about it…"

"You shut up!" she barked at her trainee. With the free hand the teenager grabbed the hen's head. "Last chance."

At her gesture the dark skinned boy screamed terrified: "NO! STOP! Don't do it!" he tempted with all his strength to free himself. "You'll kill us all if you try to hurt her!"

"You think so?" Cree mocked, "What is she gonna do? Flap her wings to death?"

"I'm serious! Don't do it!" he kept screaming, wriggling from the grasp of the other Teen Ninja. The boy was clearly scared and wished to reach his pet at any cost, as if their lives depended on it.

"Really? Why don't we see how she fights back?" With both hands she grasped the head and the neck of the animal.

Now Sam was screaming loud at the top of his lungs: "NO, NO, DON'T… mmmph mmm!" His mouth was covered by the Hispanic girl.

Cree began wringing the hen's neck…

"HIYA!" A figure came from nowhere landed on the Teen Ninja, making her fall to the ground. The animal freed itself from the girl's grasp and ran away fluttering.

"What the…" Cree looked at the kid situated on her chest and she realized, "You!" she hissed.

The Supreme Leader of Kids Next Door tried to punch her on the face, but the Teen Ninja blocked her fist and with a rapid movement she shook the kid off, making her hit the head against the floor. Although the child felt a horrible pain, she wasn't overcome by it and kicked her enemy's right ankle, which caused the teenager to fall on her knees. This gave Rachel time to get up and attack again, but Cree collected herself earlier than expected and saved another kick headed for her chest, after which she caught the little girl's foot with a sudden gesture and pulled it to herself, making Rachel lose her balance; the teenager wringed her limb and the blonde cried of pain while trying to set herself free somehow.

"You're out of practice, brat." teased Cree, "Having a desk job like yours takes this effect." She tried to punch her but Rachel dodged it in time.

The Hispanic teen witnessed the struggle going on in front of her eyes; she was wondering if she should have intervened or not, when realized there was no agitation coming from the boy anymore. She turned and saw that he was gone; she was just holding his Hawaiian shirt. Astonished, she looked around and noticed the ten-year-old taking his pet bare-chested and cradling her in his arms. He caressed her feathers to infuse her peacefulness and whispered gently to her: "Don't worry girl, as long as you are with me, nobody will hurt you, your daddy would never let it happen… hush, calm down, calm down… it's all over… all over… hush."

The Teen Ninja shook her head at the weirdness of the scene and went after him. She tugged sharply at Sam and pushed him against the wall, immobilizing him once again. The hen fell from his owner's hand and fell to the ground.

"Hey! That hurt!" the boy protested, but the teen ignored him.

Back to the main fight, Rachel with an agile movement managed to free herself from Cree's grasp kicking her groin with the other leg, and before the teen could recover from the blow received, she went on her knees and with a kick at 180 degrees made her adversary stumble. Unfortunately, before touching the floor, Cree did a somersault backwards and landed on her feet in a cat-like way. Rachel got up and closed her elbows around her waist in a defensive pose, waiting for the next attack.

"What do you want from him?" she asked.

The Teen Ninja seemed slightly surprised, "Wha… oh, you know damn well what do we want from him!" she adopted a defensive pose too, scanning her enemy from head to toe.

Rachel raised a brow, "Actually, not. I've just met him and I can tell you he's not part of the KND."

Cree gazed at her bewildered, then seemed to understand something and chuckled: "Oh, it's true!" she smiled wickedly, "Numbuh Infinity would never accept the fact you know the Babies Next Door's secrets better than he does!"

Rachel's eyes widened in shock, the little girl temporarily wrong-footed by the declaration.

Did that mean Numbuh Infinity indeed was acquainted with something he wanted to hide from her? Was this so obvious to the others? And what does that boy had to do with that?

Worse luck, Rachel was so distracted by these thoughts that she realized too late about Cree's flying kick to her face and couldn't stop it in time. She fell backwards and hit her nape painfully, almost risking losing her senses.

Meanwhile, Sam was trying out another technique to get ride of his warder that was a little different from Rachel's and didn't exactly regard the hand-to-hand combat.

"Do you know I've never seen such shining eyes like yours in all my life?" he said in a very adulatory tone.

"Yeah, nice try, brat." the teenager replied back distractedly, just focusing on Cree in order that she could learn something about battles against kids and new moves.

That was strange: girls always succeeded in seducing boys, but boys regularly failed at seducing girls. Sam gave it another try: "I bet your boyfriend never tells you that you have the sweetest voice in the world."

"Actually, he says he adores hearing it especially when I scream."

The boy gave her an interrogative look and of sincere incomprehension. Why the crud her boyfriend wanted to hear her scream? That didn't make her sense! He liked his mom's voice, but not when she was screaming at him…

Something soft hit him on the head and fell on the floor at a few steps from him. He lowered his eyes to see the object: it was a blue plastic sachet and carried on it the symbol of the…

Sam gasped and gazed instinctively at his right side; at several meters away from the Teen Ninjas and the two kids, a child-like figure dressed in a battered grey coat with his face covered by a scarf and a hood was peeping from behind a wall. The mysterious figure nodded at him and vanished.

The boy gulped anguished. _Him…_

Oh, crud.

They had found him.

Oh god, he was in very bad fix, now. People didn't enter in the hyperspace, cover almost sixteen galaxies and go through two wormholes just to say hallo to someone.

If he used the object, he would have saved himself, but then he had to face him and the other agents… and explain them the reason of his umpteenth vacation. Maybe it was better ignoring their help and stay as a prisoner of the Teen Ninjas…

Ooooh, _very_ bad idea. After that, he himself would have came, freed him, and at this point Sam would be forced to swallow his, the Division Leader's and the Great Commander's fury, if not of all the C.O.D., and for punishment the boy's savior would have modified his nerve functions, making him act like a strange animal.

This if he was lucky, otherwise he would have controlled his movements _residing_ in his body for an undetermined time. And as he knew too well, Limit seldom determined times.

Paying attention to his self-preservation instincts, Sam opted for accepting the agents' help. With a good dose of caution, he tempted reach for the sachet using his foot, with no result. After many unsuccessful attempts, he realized the only way to take it was going a few steps ahead and leaning forward definitely, but it was an impossible goal to achieve if that teenager was still holding him captive with her arm on his chest.

He thought of an excuse: "Excuse me; my shoelaces have come undone, can I…"

"You liar, your shoes are laced." interrupted roughly the Teen Ninja, who had glanced to the kid's shoes the very moment he had started of asking the question.

He fell silent and searched for another excuse. How convince a teen girl to get her limb off of him?

Sam's face enlightened: that's it! He put on a casual tone of voice: "Wow, what an interesting ingrowing nail you got on this finger…"

It worked. With a jump, the Teen Ninja instinctually brought her arm in front of her and started to examine her hand, not noticing she had just freed the kid.

Faster than a ferret, Sam took the sachet, opened it, and took an handful of azurine dust from it; when he saw the teenager coming after him again, he blew the dust right on her face. The girl froze and coughed violently: "What the…" she managed to say before frantically beginning of scratching herself. Suddenly, her face began to be very itchy.

"Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" she cried.

The ten-year-old did nothing but looking at her dazed and then at the sachet. He said with deception: "Common irritant powder? Ooooh, man! I hoped it was something cooler like…"

A scream of pain came from behind him. Sam turned and saw Cree giving Rachel a kick on her stomach. The little girl, who was trying to pick herself up off the ground because of the previous falling, couldn't block the attack in time and she was hit by it.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed, putting more urticant dust on his hand. "Hold on, Rachel!" he cried running towards the two fighters. Sam placed himself in front of the teenager, raised his fist and threw the powdery substance against her. To him, time seemed to freeze: the specks of dust moved in the air as if they were performing a Dance of Death, promising everlasting sufferings and with the intention of dragging their designate victim to the bowels of Hell…

…unfortunately a sudden gust of wind coming from the opposite direction made them return to their consignor and entering in contact not only with the boy's face, but even with his still bare chest.

"Uh-oh…" he grumbled when he figured out what had just happened. Two seconds after, he screamed and started to scratch furiously every all his body making the 'weapon' fall on the floor, while Cree busted out laughing mocking the boy's bad luck.

Rachel opened her eyes confused, still not knowing what was going on now because of the horrible hit of before. When she saw Sam and the Teen Ninja who was holding him captive a moment ago scratching themselves, she got lightly astonished but then made out the plastic object lying on the ground surrounded by some weird specks of dust. She assumed it had to be urticant powder.

After being sure that Cree was distracted, she crawled on all fours to the sachet and took it. She got up with difficulty, her belly hurting and called the teenager out loud. "Hey, dumb teen!"

When the dark skinned girl turned ready to retail, Rachel launched all its content against the teen's face. Cree screamed just when the substance commenced taking effect and she began of scratching herself too, desperately searching for a little relief.

Rachel unconsciously put the plastic sachet in her pocket's sweater, ran to Sam and caught his hand: "We're going!" she told him hasty and pulled him.

"Wait!" and he whistled. At that sound, the hen came quickly trotting by her owner's side. "I have to pick my things, too!" the boy added.

The blonde nodded and released his hand letting him take his Hawaiian shirt; after that, they both made for the other Teen Ninja, who she wasn't noticing what was going on around her and was still trying to open up the pockets' jacket.

"I think I got it now…" she muttered to herself before being kicked to the ankle by Rachel and bending ahead.

Rachel took the jacket off the teen's hands without any effort and gave it to Sam, who was loading the guitar on his shoulders (with a lot of strain, since he was itching all over to death). Then the two kids and the farm animal ran away, leaving behind the girl's oaths.

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**_"Did yah seeh dat? Weh give him a weapon, and he doezn't even know HOW to uze it!"_**

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Several minutes later, the two children halted their running and stopped to take breath and to make sure the Teen Ninja hadn't followed them. They found themselves in the middle of a neighborhood that Rachel recognized as the one in which Sector V was established. They decided to rest near the corner between two houses.

"I think… we're safe… now" the Supreme Leader of KND said breathlessly.

Sam nodded and began scratching every part of his body that had been exposed to the urticant powder; it took a while to that thing to lose its effect.

"Are you fine?" Rachel asked him, slowly recovering herself from their headlong flight.

At those words the dark skinned boy seemed to revive. He gazed intensely at her and, after a moment of pause, his eyes started watering and suddenly he hugged.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You just saved our lives, dude, thank you SO MUCH!" he said touched, gradually embracing her tighter than before.

"C'mon, don't exaggerate!" Rachel replied tempting to shake the boy off and not to die stifled by his grasp, "The Teen Ninjas can be terrible but don't kill children, they only beat us a little to bully us, but they would never come at this point!"

"You don't understand!" Sam whimpered, not showing signs of letting go the girl. "I-If that N-Ninja would have hurt Dion, now we'd be…" At the mention of his pet, the ten-year-old gasped, finally released Rachel and dashed to the hooded hen, picking her up and hugging her. "Dion! It's over, we're safe -no- YOU'RE safe!" he rubbed himself against the white feathers, "Quiet, quiet… hush… when we come back home, nobody will deny you a double birdseed ration…" he whispered cradling the fowl.

Rachel blinked at the sight of that odd scene; she knew there were people very fond of their pets, especially dogs, cats and hamsters, but she hadn't imagined that someone could place so much love in a hen because, well, it's not like the hen is famous for its talent to be the most inestimable life-companion of man: it was famous for being the most inestimable food of the man for many millenniums by now. In this case, the hen was completely oblivious of her owner's attentions and was just looking around her, not caring of the kids at all.

Rachel glanced at her watch: it was almost half past five; she had to hurry up if she wanted to reach Sector V's tree house before the dark came, but the blonde wished to know a few things.

She coughed in the most polite way to get the boy's attention on her. Sam lifted his head and gave her an encouraging smile, a gesture that meant he was listening.

"Why did the Teen Ninjas want to seize you? Have you done something against them?" she questioned.

The boy's smile vanished and was replaced by a nervous look: "I-I haven't done anything to them! Let's say… they believed I knew something about the KND…"

The girl raised a brow: "Why on the world? You're not an operative."

"Yeah…"

Rachel scrutinized attentively his features: in fact, Sam reminded her of someone… the nose, the cheekbones… The picture of a boy kept appearing in her mind, but a blurred one, and every time she was coming to identify the person, it was swallowed up again by the fumes of oblivion…

Then she remembered Cree's enigmatic statement…

Of course! That's who he was!

"You're Numbuh Infinity's brother, right?"

At this, Sam became agitated and put his hands in front of him: "Look, I don't know anything! Seriously! Just 'cause he's my big bro it doesn't mean I am aware of the classified information of your organization, dude! Rather, he has always kept me out from your business!"

"Calm down, Sam! I'm not here to cross-examine you, I just wanted to know why you had those dorks at your heels, it's my job as a Kids Next Door agent to prevent teenagers from hurting children…" Rachel assured, but she couldn't help but notice that the kid was shifting his weight from one foot to another, meaning he wasn't telling the truth; she automatically knew it because of the training back at the Arctic Base and her past experience as a spy.

"I think they wanted to extort stuff from me 'cause they thought I was involved in the KND but it's not true!" he kept defending himself.

The phrase 'You Sure?' came to her mouth but she managed to stop it before it went out. Although she would have insisted, Rachel understood she wouldn't succeed in convincing the child to spill the beans. Everyone else would have forgotten it, said goodbye to the boy and gone away, but Rachel wasn't the Supreme Leader and the former best spy of the Kids Next Door for nothing. Her spy instincts were telling her to persist in a subtle way, not directly; she had to be friendly, gain his trust and gradually make him confess something, with no hurry. A little part of her scolded the girl saying it was unfair befriending with someone just for obtaining information, but Cree's answer had surprised her and was currently filling her head with questions, suspects and doubts; in fact, what had happened in the dead end seemed to confirm that Numbuh Infinity was hiding business about the organization from her and his little brother could be the only one who might have at least a vague idea of it. After that, she would have repaid him somehow and would have kept his helping a secret.

She wanted to know more. She _had_ to know more.

Rachel smiled to the boy: "If you say so. By the way, if those teen dorks annoy you once again, tell me, okay?"

"To beat them up again, right?" said Sam while putting back on his shirt and jacket.

"Hey, I managed to defeat the Ninjas thanks to your urticant powder, otherwise we'd be still there…" She didn't like to confess eventual weaknesses of hers sometimes she had in battlefields, but she hated to obtain all the credit when actually she had been helped by other people or because of fortunate circumstances.

"But you saved my life! It's only because of you if I- and those teens too, are still alive!" cried Sam cheerfully.

"For the last time Sam, back there nobody's life was in danger!"

"Don't be so sure, dude…" the boy gazed scared at the clueless hen that had resumed in pecking the pavement. "When she feels to be in danger, she…" he whispered, and inadvertently he moved the hands to his ears. "If you want to survive, you must stay a gazillion of meters far from her." He stared in awe at his pet with a mix of admiration and terror, like if the hen wasn't a simple farm animal anymore but a creature coming from Hell.

"Riiiight…" Rachel said breaking the long silence that followed the weird scene, "Look, would you mind if one of these days we… go for a walk?" The question came out before she could stop it. She groaned to herself: what a lame suggestion to hang out she made! It was all her job's fault, she was so used to work in the Organization having almost no contact with other 'normal' people or non-operative kids, that when she had to deal to deal with situation like this, she didn't know how to act.

However, Sam didn't seem to notice, because he responded eagerly at the girl's proposal: "Oh, I'd love to, dude!"

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Somewhere, Numbuh Infinity raised his head from some documents he was reading and began looking around worried, as if he was searching for something invisible that was hiding in the room.

"What's up, Infinity?" asked Numbuh 74.329, standing next to him and noticing his behavior.

After a minute of contemplation, the diplomat narrowed his eyes and said in a serious tone of voice: "Something terrible just happened."

* * *

"… we can tell each other everything we have been through these years and… oh, there are tons of places we can go together to eat ice cream, hot dogs, drink soda and much more! Or playing in the park. Oh, and we can go to the movies! I love movies, and you? To be true, I like concerts more, but mom doesn't still let me go to one alone… Hey, and you can come to my house one of these days, I've got some interesting parlour games and…"

The dark skinned child kept drawing up a list of the activities they could have done together, and he was talking as if they both were old friends who had lost sight of each other because they had moved in different towns and hadn't meet again until now.

When Sam gave her his phone number with no request from the blonde, Rachel felt a little guilty. Oh great, she thought, she started having regrets and she hadn't even begun!

"You still don't know my full name, right?"

The question brought Rachel back to Earth: "No, I fear not."

Sam held out his hand to her and presented himself again: "Samuel Connors."

Rachel shook it: "Rachel T. McKenzie."

The boy looked at her for a moment and opened his mouth…

Rachel saw it coming: "Don't ask what the T stands for."

Sam closed his mouth.

Suddenly a bip was heard from Rachel's wrist. She took a look at her watch and saw it was exactly half past five. She had to hurry up!

"Listen, I can't stay too long, I'm in the middle of a research for the KND and I have to finish it soon, I can't leave the Moon Base for too long."

"Can I come with you? Please?" Sam begged her.

"I'm sorry Sam, but this is about a very important operation and I need to-"

"Please, please, please, please, dude!" the boy was practically down on his knees. He didn't want being left alone at all; he wasn't still ready to face his… work colleagues.

"Why do you keep calling me 'dude', anyway?" Rachel asked, that one thing bugging her since the start of this conversation, too bad ignoring the boy's answer would have caused her a great shock and haunted her for several years.

"Don't you like it?"

"Not much. But I can accept 'dudette', since I'm a girl."

Sam's eyes widened and said incredulously: "You're a girl?"

"Of course I'm a girl, what else I should…" she stopped at mid sentence when realization hit her like an iron fist. Deranged, she exclaimed: "You believed I was a BOY?"

"Noooo…" Sam answered back trying to fix his mistake, but then his gaze met Rachel's. He didn't like it at all.

* * *

Somewhere, Numbuh Infinity raised his head from his work and looked around once again. A few seconds later, a faint smile hovered on his lips.

"Now what's it?" asked Numbuh 74.239 always next to him.

"I feel like… something dangerous had been avoided."

* * *

"W-well, y-yeah, I-I thought you were 'cause, uh… I mean, I haven't seen you again for three years, you know, and people told me there was a new Supreme Leader but they didn't mention it was a girl and it was YOU, and, and, now I meet you again, you don't look like a girl- I MEAN" he tempted to correct himself when Rachel's expression worsened, "you don't act exactly act like a girl, 'cause you're strict- no, not in that way!" Sam was sweating now, "Well, you're strong and determined and these are very wonderful qualities for a girl, it's just that you show them like a boy doe- WAIT! Every girl has those qualities, b-but another thing that made me believe you were a boy was you physical appearance, 'cause you don't seem so feminine- NO, I'm not saying you're…" His voice gradually passed from high to low as Rachel continued glaring at him, until it vanished definitely. The boy blushed mortified.

A long silence followed. Rachel remained silent, her face now inexpressive and motionless while her eyes were staring into space, every trace of shock gone; she didn't seem to be upset, but her hands twitched for a moment.

Sam felt the necessity to say something. Something that could help him to apologize, explain himself and assure his new friend whatever gender she was it didn't matter to him…

"Just so you know I'm okay in having a girl as a friend." he informed her keenly.

With great regret, the answer didn't achieve any effect. Rachel didn't stir for a millimeter.

More silence followed.

After a while, Sam decided to break it. "Maybe… er… maybe it's better if I stay here… I just remembered I have to meet someone, by the way." The boy said still visibly mortified for the poor figure.

Rachel finally nodded, her expression still firm, although nobody could imagine at present inside her there was a debating about the subject going on and that was inexorably pushing her on the edge of paranoia. "Fine." she said.

"Didn't you take offence at it, right?" The boy asked worried.

Like every girl in the world who gets really angry at someone for an offensive thing said to her, she responded: "No." A brief pause and the blonde glared at him. "The name 'Rachel' didn't… give you any clue about my gender?"

"What?" Sam adopted a confused look.

"I mean, 'Rachel' is a very common girl name, do you know it?" expounded the Supreme Leader trying to not smack the poor boy on the ground like Fanny would have done in her shoes; she didn't have to lose her patience over a silly thing like this but, strangely, now to her it wasn't a silly thing at all.

"Oh yes, but a very old friend of mine is called Amanda and it's a boy, so…" he chuckled nervously, "I don't care much about these things…" He was going to tell her that from his friend came from, 'Amanda' was a boy's name, but then he sensed it wasn't a good idea.

"Okay." Rachel breathed deeply to calm her nerves, "Now I really have to go. See you around." She made a smile she hoped was assuring and turned to go away.

"Please, can I meet you again? I'm very-"

"Don't worry, I must… go and… think over it, yeah… Goodbye, Sam."

The dark skinned child watched her go until she turned the corned and disappeared from his sight. He face palmed: "Nice one, Sam." He muttered with grudge against himself. The only consolation left was the urticant powder effect was almost gone.

Then he realized he was alone. Completely alone besides from his pet. No living soul. But not for long.

The perfect moment to show up.

Sam sighed resigned: he knew what was going to happen in a few beats. He would have received a working admonition for non-appearance.

_Three… two… one…_

_"Zam!" _Shouted an angry voice with a weird pronunciation and marked accent.

The boy closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. He would have recognized that voice even in a stadium with thousands of people during a U2 concert. His way of talking was unmistakable.

Sam turned at its direction with a bright smile on his lips to hide his discomfort. "Hi, Amanda." He greeted.

The same figure that had helped him in defeating the Teen Ninjas stood in front of him with arms crossed, his foot tapping on the ground. It could pass for a boy, but his blue eyes were unnaturally big.

And pupil-less.

"Yah _IDIOT_!" he cried at Sam, aspirating every vowel in the words.

"It's nice to see you." said Sam attempting to act calm, though his tone betrayed his real mood.

The 'kid' named Amanda ignored his greeting: "Yah're ah mad to brin' dat… _demahniac_ thin' with yah!" he pointed a finger to the hen; against all human laws, his hand was dark green and webbed, like the frog ones. "Doh yah have any ideah of vhat vahld have happened if de Ninjah hurt it? Lahckily dat girl intervened or Fthorr had to expoze himself!"

"Her." Sam corrected, slightly irritated, "Dion is an animal, a living being, not an object. And she isn't a demon at all! Those are just prejudices about her species, plus, I succeeded in taming her properly."

"Properly?" cried out the mysterious child, "It vaz goin' to react!"

"Of course, she was threatened! What else should she have done? She had to defend herself… wait a minute, boogey-boy is with you?" said Sam, stunned by the sudden realization.

"Nope. _Vid yah_." Amanda answered out of spite.

Sam started and began looking around him, above him, the ground, the walls…

And he saw him.

His own shadow was waving at him.

Sam gulped. He _hated_ when he acted like this.

The boy's shadow lost its shape and divided in two halves. One of them kept the original shape of the child and remained faithful to his movements. The other one…

The other one assumed a circular form that was whirling on itself like a spiral. Then from the wall came out a hand black as the night, with very long and tapering fingers covered with claws; after that, a dark figure once and for all emerged in the same way an index crossed the surface of a bubble.

A childlike figure straightened up in all its height. He had humanoid build, but there were particular characteristics, if not unique, that distinguished him from the humans. He was bald and his skin was completely black and his body was entirely covered by a cape of the same exact color that hided his feet. Extremely long arms came out from the garment, long as the primates' ones. His facial features were similar to men's, but he had pointed ears and yellow eyes with slit shaped pupils. And he didn't have a mouth.

Sam stared at him before letting out a squeaky: "Hi." The boy still hadn't gotten used to his way of coming.

The alien creature didn't answer back; he gave him a nod with the head and remained silent.

"Weeell…" Sam said nonchalantly, "If you guys are here it means you have super important stuff to do, soooo… I'd better leave since I'm no use for you now 'cause I'm on vacat-"

"Oh yeah," Amanda cut the ten-year-old short, "de Divizion Leadehr and de Great Commandehr liked to inform yah dey delivered an ultimatum regarding yahr little vacations."

Sam froze. "What kind of ultimatum?" he whispered frightened, hoping _that thing_ got nothing to do with it.

"Take ah look by yahrzelf." The kid gave him a white envelope. Sam opened it with trembling hands, praying they hadn't altered their deal somehow.

He took the letter and read it. He paled by degrees as his eyes moved through the words written in the document. When he finished, Sam's face was a mask of panic. "Th-they c-can't do this to me!" he stuttered.

"It zeemz dey juzt did," said Amanda shrugging, "and yah bettehr conzider yahrzelf lucky, Limit intervened in yahr favehr befohre dey eztablizhed de new conditionz."

"He intervened? He did NOTHING!"

"Vell, actually he didn't defend yah so much." the alien kid confessed.

"But without it I won't last a day! They will find me! And I've just discovered my brother sent the Decommissioning Squad after me!" Sam cried.

"Diz iz yahr problem." Amanda paused, "Zo yah azzept dis mizion?"

The boy shut up, doubtful. He had to accept it if he wanted to survive; otherwise the protection license they gave him would have been revoked and at this point _very_ bad people he knew would have found him… and finished him.

But he didn't like the task he had been assigned for either; Sam felt it was wrong towards her…

All his brother's fault, dammit!

"Is the GKND involved in this?" Sam questioned.

"Yah don't know half of it." replied Amanda serious.

"And we must stop them, right?"

He sighed: "Az alwayz, Zam."

The boy rubbed his head, upset. Oh, he was so going to hate this. He looked at the alien children. "Do I have a choice?"

Amanda smiled ironically from behind his scarf: "Noh, I dink not."

* * *

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**"God... don't tell me the guy with the toilet costume is the lesser evil..."**

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Transimission Interrupted... Please Standby...

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Author's Note:

Block writer because of the fighting scene and two weeks for translating it. *bangs her head to the desk*, I would have continued in thinking about the combat part but I realized I would have published this chapter next January, so I modified the chapter and introduced the others (and the last) OCs. The 'Great Commander' won't appear here, the 'Division Leader' yes (no, it's not Limit) but at the very end of the fic. If I will ever have the time to write Operation R.E.C.R.U.I.T.S, he will have a role in it along Patton. But probably I won't have the time to write it *sighs*.

However, the next chapter is already finished, I just have to translate it but I won't because, well, it's the longest I've ever written and I so do not want to split it in two parts. It's all about Father and a psychological analysis of him. Not because of love or other mushy stuff, it's between him and the Fatherhood influence. Since I've also finished the first chapter of 'A Chance in A Million', which is WAY shorter, I will translate it first, and then I'll pass to Chapter 5 of this fic.

You must now during May and June I won't write and I won't translate anything because of the last exams. The italian exams are very different from yours and aside of studying all the year's program, we also have to make an essay regarding a precise topic that's related with every subject we have in school (which includes astronomical geography, maths, physics, history). Because I'm stupid, I like to complicate my life and because of the movie 'Black Swan' I watched the night before, I decided on my own initiative to make a topic about 'conflict between good and evil.' Sounds easy, isn'it?

A few things more: when I was little, I actually had problems in discovering a kid's gender. But I was a very demented child at the time, so it's okay. And yeah, when I watched the KND episode GRADUATES I believed Rachel was a boy (in my defense, the only episode I missed at the time was FUGITIVE. And the italian voice of Rachel was really boyish).

Fthorr was the first OC ever created by me, I was 13 when I imagined him/her (it's hermaphroditical, yes), but it was for the Teen Titans fandom. Since I've never had the chance to write an English fic about that show because I didn't know a **damn **about English, I decided to introduce it for the first time, he deserved it.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great day everyone. Bye :)

-Ines


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